An entire city quarantined for fear of pests …

Citizens of Ulgii, a Mongolian town in Bayan-Ölgi province, are quarantined "for an indefinite period" after the Ministry of Health found that a couple had contracted bubonic plague after have eaten raw marmot meat. A total of 158 people who had direct or indirect contact with the couple were placed under strict medical supervision. The measures included the pbadengers of a plane observed at the Gengis Kan International Airport of Ulaanbaatar. In addition, some points of the border with Russia have been completely closed to prevent the spread of the disease.

The 38-year-old man died on April 27. His wife, pregnant, three days later. But the scandal erupted when it was learned that death was caused by the disease that ravaged Europe in the fourteenth century: bubonic plague.

N. Tsogbadrakh, director of the National Center for Medicine, the man chased the animal, which is "strictly forbidden", ate a piece of meat and then offered it to his wife. They are thought to have done so in the context of an ancient Mongolian tradition that indicates that consumption of raw groundhog meat boosts health, but the consumption of their kidneys has been proven fatal.

"Did you think the plague was from the Middle Ages? We too were about to leave Ulgii to go deeper into Mongolia, but all the exits from the city were closed and we could not leave. closed because of marmots contaminated by plague! "writes traveler Elena Kovena.

After the diagnosis, a large health operation was also deployed at Gengis Kan Airport in Ulan Baton, aboard an aircraft from the affected province. The pbadengers were examined near the airport and others were sent to a hospital to undergo a medical examination. Pbadengers in quarantine include American, Russian, Swedish, Swiss, German, Dutch and South Korean tourists.